Three Great Weekend Reads
Is there an inherent beauty to reality?
What do grammarians say about preferred pronouns?
Is it time to start planning your post-Covid vacation?
That there is an inherent ‘beauty’ and ‘elegance’ to the laws of nature is a view that permeates the field of physics. But, according to the German theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder, the notion that the further you peer into reality, the easier the equation gets, has no basis in reality.
What’s new isn’t the generic pronoun but the referential pronoun: the one that refers to a known person (Bill, John, Krys, or Emily). People are deciding for themselves how they want to be referred to behind their backs — in the third person… A social movement is behind the idea that people get to decide how references to them should sound when they’re absent.
While coronavirus experts differ in their willingness to engage in air travel for not-strictly-essential purposes (like visiting family), it’s clear that getting on a plane during a pandemic does involve some level of risk. But as vaccines roll out, it may have crossed your mind: When is a realistic time to finally book tickets to fly somewhere?
The answer is pretty simple: Book the trip